Honest

DoT may seek cabinet nod for 3G issues Press Trust of India l 19 Dec l New Delhi The Department of Telecom is likely to seek a cabinet nod on a host of issues concerning 3G mobile telephony, including number of slots for auction, increased annual spectrum charges and administrative fee as suggested by TRAI. While a ministry spokesperson did not say anything beyond "the Telecom Commission (the policy making wing of DoT) met today", sources said DoT has started the process of preparing a cabinet note on 3G issues after the meeting. According to sources, no decision could be arrived at on three key issues that came up for consideration on Friday, number of slots to be announced for auction, finalisation of increased spectrum charges at 3-8 per cent, and TRAI's suggestion for a 2 per cent (of the highest bid on a 3G spectrum auction) administrative charge.

^^^ This seems to be some other problem my dear Saurav.

^^^ My dear friend, in GSM those handsets will be banned which doesn't have proper IMEI Code and in CDMA those handsets will be banned which doesn't have proper ESN number. That means Bad ESN handsets which are working on CDMA will be banned. Regards.

^^^ Only 175$. Wow, its really cheap my dear friend.

^^^ Delhi Waley Badey Dil Wale Hotey Hain. Aur Delhi Hai Dilwaalon Ki. Isliye Dil Kholker Mobile Kharidtey Hain.

^^^ You seems to be lucky my dear Ajay. Hope other members too won't be charged by Reliance.

Skype Now Available on WinMob Handsets A new Skype application, that will enable users to access their log-in details, chat and make Skype calls to other users for free right from their mobile phone, has been developed for Windows mobile devices . The option of Pay As You Go credit or monthly subscriptions is also available to save on calls to landlines and mobiles abroad. Skype 2.5 Beta for Windows Mobile will work on all Smartphones and Pocket PC handsets. You can download it directly to your phone and install it, or you can save it to your PC and transfer it on to your Windows Mobile device for installation. The application is compatible with either Windows Mobile Professional or Windows Mobile Standard devices. Users will require a minimum of 12MB of free storage memory on your device to install Skype or 6MB free if installing from a memory card. Click here to get instructions and download the application. Courtesy : Tech2

Lenovo Mobile Could Run on Android Platform This is the month of announcements and rumors, and here’s one more to get you in an anticipatory mood for more Android-powered handsets. It seems like Lenovo’s new touch screen handset being called the OPhone (hmm... that sounds familiar, a touch screen handset with a vowel and ‘Phone’ attached) will probably be running on the Android platform. Word has it that it won’t be available for quite a while at least to the US customers but there could be a possibility it’ll be available a lot sooner on our continent with neighbors. It could be China Mobile’s offering of an Android handset but there’s not too much information on the specs this handset is empowered with. But not to deviate from what I’m presuming a lot of mobile maniacs are wondering – a Lenovo mobile phone? Sound’s interesting. Pricing or availability is also anyone’s guess just now. Courtesy : Tech2

Virgin Mobile Debuts vDesire Aimed at the Indian youth, the phone also comes bundled with a Prepaid connection and Lifetime Validity at Rs.1,699 After the launch of the vKewl back in November, Virgin Mobile has introduced its latest model, the vDesire, targeting the Indian youth. The vDesire is a slim form factor handset with a decent spec sheet aimed at the youth. At 11.5 mm, the phone is quite thin. Other notable features include a 1000 SMS storage capability, large internal phonebook with 500 X 5 entries. The screen is a 65K color affair and yes, there is FM Radio, Stereo headset and speakerphone. The phone also comes bundled with a Prepaid connection and Lifetime Validity at Rs. 1,699. Value-added services like access to Vbytes, Virgin Mobile's data portal, from where users can download wallpapers, ringtones and games are just a button away. According to Virgin, these handsets have all been designed to present a blend of competitive pricing, style and features. Courtesy : Techtree

Vdesire is an entry level handset from Virgin and is reasonably priced my dear friends.

So my dear friends, its now confirmed that by 6 January onwards all Imported Mobile Handsets which do not have proper IMEI numbers will be BANNED in India. Means your handset will be blocked by the operator itself and you will be unable to make and recieve calls. So all of you, who had purchased Imported Handsets from the Grey Market, should have a check with your handset, whether it has proper IMEI number or not. It is clearly mentioned in the news that 25 Million Mobile Phones could be disconnected due to improper or false IMEI numbering. Hope you are not one of those 25 Million. Regards.

<< Topic Title Updated >>

DoT asks cellcos to cut off handsets without IMEI code Economic Times l 19 Dec l Mumbai Come January 6 and as many as 25 million mobile phones could be disconnected by the telecom operators. Concerned about the terrorist attacks in the recent past, the department of telecom (DoT) has asked service providers to disconnect handsets that do not have an international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) number. IMEI is a unique 15 digit code that identifies a mobile. It prevents the use of stolen handsets for making calls and allows lawful interception to prove the use of a particular device. The IMEI number appears on the operator’s network whenever a call is made. DoT has asked the service providers to equip networks with Equipment Identity Register (EIR) to check whether calls are made from genuine handsets. “In the interest of national security, all cellular mobile service providers in unified acess service licences (UASL) are hereby directed to make provisions for EIR so that calls without IMEI or with IMEI consisting of all zeroes are not processed or rejected,” DoT said in a letter to operators on October 6. “If switches do not have such a facility, the necessary hardware and software should be put in place within three months of the issue date of this letter and compliance reported,” it added. Indian Cellular Association (ICA), the industry body for handset makers, believes that illegal IMEI handsets are being used as there is no validation of IMEI numbers in mobiles entering the country either through sea or air. Moreover, there is no central mechanism to prohibit the use of stolen phones. The bulk of grey market phones, predominantly originating from China, do not have genuine IMEI numbers. ICA estimates around 25 million such handsets in the country. However, some operators ET spoke to expressed their inability to meet the DoT deadline due to technical reasons. “What the DoT is trying to do is to block all calls with zeroes as IMEI numbers or from blacklisted numbers. That adds an extra load on networks. There are so many combinations of non-genuine IMEI numbers that it is extremely difficult to block them. Network upgradation is required to block all such calls and not all our multiple equipment vendors are equipped to do it,” a senior official told ET. He further explained that interrogating all calls would delay call set-up time. “Switches will interrogate most of the time and may not be able to process any calls,” he added. Another top official at a telecom firm said the move will affect customers who unknowingly bought mobiles without IMEI or whose numbers have been duplicated by others. “The duplicate devices currently being used will not last beyond two-three years. The way out is to check imports to stop entry of handsets without genuine IMEI into India,” he added.

Telephonic employment information service launched Business Line l 18 Dec l Hyderabad Gramadootha targeting Tier II and III cities, non-IT job seekers Hyderabad-based Gramadootha Technical Services Pvt Ltd announced the launch of a telephonic employment vacancy information service — Dialajob.net. “Unlike other services that use e-mail alerts to notify any job matches, Dialajob provides jobseekers with real-time notification of matches over phone (SMS and voice),” Mr B. Rammohan, founder and director of Gramadootha Technical Services, said while addressing a press conference here on Thursday. The company, which was incorporated about a year ago, has so far invested Rs 1 crore for developing this product. He added that with a Rs 250 registration fee per jobseeker a year, the portal currently has 15,000 users, including 300-odd paid users. Gramadootha expects 10,000 paid users in Andhra Pradesh alone in the first year of operations. It expects revenues of around Rs 4 crore by March 2010 with Rs 3 crore coming through registration fees and the rest from prospective employers. Fee collection Mr Rammohan said the company is targeting Tier II and Tier III cities and non-IT job seekers as the portal provides job offerings across all sectors. “We have tied up with APOnline and E-seva for fee collection. Under the revenue-sharing partnership, APOnline and E-seva gets a commission of 18-22 per cent of the fee collected per registration,” he said. The company has also entered into a similar arrangement with CMS, a Bangalore-based citizen services company that has 10,000 centres across the country. “A similar service will be launched with the help of CMS in Karnataka and Maharashtra shortly,” he added.

TRAI proposes tighter norms for quality of service Business Line l 18 Dec l New Delhi The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has proposed to tighten the quality of service norms for telecom companies. According to existing benchmarks, operators are supposed to keep the call drop rate to less than 3 per 100 calls. TRAI has proposed to change this to 2 per 100. The regulator has suggested other changes in a consultation paper on reviewing the existing quality of service parameters. For example, it has proposed to monitor the billing and metering credibility for pre-paid subscribers. Currently, bills of post-paid subscribers are monitored. A suggestion has also been made to reduce the tome period for making refunds by operators from four weeks to one week. “Any review of quality of service regulations should streamline the quality of service parameters monitoring, measurement and frameworks to the regulatory enforcement. There is also a case to consider the new inputs from the service provider. The review also aims to reduce or eliminate information which has lesser or lower order significance,” TRAI said. The regulator said that it will start monitoring congestion levels for fixed line operators also. Currently, TRAI monitors congestion levels for mobile companies. TRAI has been monitoring quality of service being offered by telecom players based in fixed benchmarks. Till now none of the operators have completely met the quality standards prescribed by the regulator. However, TRAI has not been able to enforce the quality norms since its powers to impose penalty has been challenged by the operators. There is a case pending with the telecom tribunal in this regard. “Thus the key issue remains as to how the quality of service is to be ensured and what relief should be given to customers for poor quality of service or what other measures can be taken for enforcing regulations,” TRAI said.

^^^ Thats a good news my dear friends.

Pandora Radio Now Available For Select WinMob Devices Pandora Radio that allows users to stream radio is now available for a few Windows Mobile handsets. The application essentially creates personalized music stations according to the user’s preferences. You’ll simply need to input specific data like - name of one of your favorite artists, songs etc. and Pandora will do the rest by creating a ‘radio’ station to those specific details. Pandora on Windows Mobile is fully integrated with Pandora on the web in case you’re an existing user. You can get all your existing stations as well as create new ones right from the handset. The features also remain the same as the PC version. At the moment there seems to be just two handsets that the application will be available on – HTC Touch and Q9C - unfortunately both from US providers, but the list will continue to increase of course. It may be a little longer before it’s available to the rest of us. To download simply go to www.pandora.com on your device. Courtesy : Tech2

More Images, Specs on Lenovo's Android Handset Last week a few reports informed the world of another upcoming Android device. The handset, according to the images and information showcased a Lenovo branding for the same, codenamed OPhone. More images and a few more specs have come to light with new reports on this totally touch screen handset. From these reports the specs revealed include a 5 megapixel AF camera with a flash (no information on whether it’s LED or Xenon yet), Video recording via the same and microSD card support, Bluetooth 2.0. Input would be via a virtual keyboard in Chinese and English. There's still no word on pricing or availability of this handset, so stay tuned. Courtesy : Tech2

DoT may suggest penalty for tele cos who violate norms Moneycontrol l 18 Dec A Department of Telecom (DoT) committee is likely to recommend a penalty on telecom operators who violate licence conditions, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting sources. The operators include Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar, BPL Mobile, BSNL, Spice, Tata Tele and Reliance Telecom, the sources added. The committee has proposed a penalty of Rs 5 lakh per circle on operators offering service in border areas and Rs 1 lakh per circle for violating national numbering plan, sources said. Sources said that the revenue for providing Push-To-Talk service was up 200%. The committee will finalise its report shortly.

Telecom panel to decide on spectrum charges tomorrow Press Trust of India l 18 Dec l New Delhi The Department of Telecom (DoT) is likely to finalise tomorrow the revised spectrum charges ranging between 3-8 per cent for telecom operators and also deliberate upon the number of operators to be allowed in next generation, 3G, telephony. The Telecom Commission is meeting tomorrow to discuss a proposal suggesting increasing the minimum annual spectrum charges to three per cent of gross revenue for 4.4 MHz spectrum from existing two per cent. According to the agenda for the meeting, the Commission would also take a final decision on how many players would be allowed to bid for 3G spectrum depending upon the spectrum availability in each circle. There were different views over the number of slots of 3G spectrum to be auctioned in the first round. The availability of spectrum in 2.1 GHz band (for 3G mobile services) varies from one telecom service area to another, sources in the DoT said, adding that in certain circles, there is no spectrum available, while in other different amounts are available. Discussions are also going on with the defence authorities regarding the demand for spectrum and its vacation and coordination issues. The issue of defence is not likely to be resolved before the proposed date of 3G auctions in January 2009, sources said, adding that in such a case it would not be prudent to auction all the available spectrum right away. "If additional spectrum remains available for mobile telephony services it can be subsequently allocated on terms to be decided in consultation with the telecom regulator Trai," sources added.

BSNL's MoU with Swan aims at exploring revenue streams: Goyal Press Trust of India l 18 Dec l New Delhi Faced with the accusation of favouring a new operator Swan Telecom to provide roaming agreement, state-run BSNL has told the government that it is purely a business decision for revenue earning and non-exclusive in nature. "We have replied to Department of Telecom that we have an MoU not an agreement with Swan Telecom for intra-circle roaming arrangement. The MoU is very clear that if at all we have spare capacity available, then only we will carry their calls. "As of now nothing is final on sharing and we are open to give the services to others as well if the trial with Swan works out it is a pure business case to explore more revenues," Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited Chairman and Managing Director Kuldeep Goyal said. "It is only to get additional revenue it can be done with other telcos as well, there is no exclusive arrangement with Swan on this", he elaborated. Recently a member of Parliament wrote to the Prime Minister over this, saying BSNL has never done any roaming agreement with any operator, but entered into one with Swan Telecom. Subsequently, the communications ministry asked BSNL to submit their replies over this allegation if it had favoured Swan Telecom, a new entrant that was granted telecom licences earlier this year. Unlisted BSNL is under pressure to retain its falling marketshare and revenues from a competitive market where call rates are as low as 20 paise.

ISPs’ books may come under DoT scanner Business Line l 17 Dec l New Delhi Fallout of RCom’s revenue reporting issue. The Department of Telecom may start auditing the account books of all the Internet Service Providers on a regular basis. The move follows recent controversy around Reliance Communication’s revenue reporting practice whereby it was showing income from non-voice services under its Internet licence. At present, ISP’s books are not audited by the DoT. A senior DoT official said that the Government may start looking at Internet companies’ books to know if other operators were using their subsidiaries to take benefit of lower revenue share for ISPs. There are about 100 Internet companies operational, but most of the top ISPs are owned by large integrated companies. Mr Rajesh Chharia, President, Internet Service Providers of India, said it may be a huge task for DoT to audit the books of all the ISPs operational in the country. Since DoT does not audit the books of ISPs at present, the issue related to Reliance Communicatins had come to light only after a report from UBS Securities pointed out that the company had shown one set of numbers to the stock exchanges and another set of numbers to the telecom regulator. CAG review Meanwhile, DoT has asked the Comptroller & Auditor General’s office to look into the books of RCom to determine whether or not the company had violated revenue reporting norms. Sources said that a list of 8 auditors, on the panel of CAG, have been given to DoT. The Central Vigilance Commission had asked the Department of Telecom to investigate alleged irregular revenue reporting by RCom. While operators do not have pay any revenue share for income earned from Internet services, they have to pay between 6 and 10 per cent of their annual revenue to the Government from mobile services. COAI had pointed out that an operator could make huge profits by showing income from data services under the ISP licence. A Member of Parliament, who had shot of a complaint to the CVC alleging irregularities on the part of RCom, has estimated that the company may have benefited by Rs 352 crore by showing non-voice revenues under the ISP licence. RCom has denied all the allegations.

Not looting, but they are the Masters of such Tactics.

Govt considering policy on Mobile TV Press Trust of India l 17 Dec l New Delhi The government is considering opening up Terrestrial Television broadcasting so that operators can offer mobile television services in the country. Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Anand Sharma today told the Lok Sabha that the the policy is currently being considered based on an earlier TRAI recommendation. "A policy to allow the opening up of terrestrial television broadcasting so as to enable the operators to offer mobile TV services is under consideration of government," Sharma said in a written reply. The proposed policy will cover all issues such as licencing, regulatory mechanism, cross-media restrictions, foreign investment, sharing of infrastructure and others. According to the TRAI recommendation on Mobile TV service, a composite foreign investment to the extent of 74 per cent for mobile TV could be allowed. The authority had stated that funding to the extent of upto 49 per cent may be permitted under the automatic route, beyond which an approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) of the Ministry of Finance would be required.